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This unbridled anger rose to the depths of my consciousness and I only looked down through a reddish veil at this bastard who had really dared to even look at her.

I kept punching him and didn't stop when I heard Isalie scream my name in desperation behind me.

She shook my arm, trying to pull me away from this guy with the last of my strength, but this devastating thought of what he was up to with her didn't let me go and I kept beating him inexorably.

"Emilio, der-"

I turned to her, trembling with anger, recognizing the many tears on her cheeks and immediately ashamed that my behavior had caused them.

But I quickly noticed that she wasn't crying because of me, but because of the reaction to my action.

"Senior Torres", a dark male voice spoke to me the next moment and when the policeman suddenly stood next to Isalie, I knew that everything was over in one fell swoop.

He would certainly arrest me for aggravated assault. They would take my fingerprints at the station and with any luck they would find matches to the cop's murder. With that, Ireland was a long way off and everything to do with it too.

"I'll arrest her-"

I didn't listen to him any further and full of regret to my delicate butterfly, whose tears now took up her whole, beautiful face and gave me a pang in my heart that was almost unbearable.

"I'm sorry," I barely whispered, but that was only half the truth. Actually, I wasn't sorry at all for knocking that bastard unconscious. No one had the right to touch her like that. That shouldn't happen to any woman! Especially not if they explicitly showed that they didn't want it.

After Carlos I had promised myself that I would never put her in a situation like that again and because of that I lifted my head proudly and accepted the consequences I was inflicted on me because I would protect her again and again and I have absolutely no regrets in that regard.

Then, as the policeman stepped behind me and I felt his hands pinning my arm to my back, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Basically, I just waited for the cold metal feel of the handcuff, which would also mean my doom, but it didn't happen.

Instead, I heard a thump and when I opened my eyes again, startled, I turned around and watched as this bearded policeman collapsed next to me.

"We have to leave here immediately," Isalie whispered in a daze, and when I looked at her, my heart almost stopped in shock.

Trembling all over, she held an empty champagne bottle in her hands and looked at the two men on the floor with glassy eyes. At the sight of her panicking eyes, I hated myself, because only because of me, she had now beaten a man unconscious and that would certainly be something that would poison her otherwise innocent soul.

"Yes, come with me," I replied calmly and took the bottle from her beforehand, putting it carefully on the bar table behind us.

I gave her my hand, looking over at the party to see if anyone had seen us, but didn't seem so, so together we walked quickly down the dark beach and straight to Hector's limousine, which was parked on the side of the road.

"Is he dead?" Isalie wanted to know at some point with a trembling voice and I opened the passenger door of the car for her and immediately took her face in my hands.

"No! Don't worry... He's probably just passed out. You've got a bad punch," I explained to her and although she seemed so exhausted, a proud grin spread across my lips, which she frowned at seemed.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked and I immediately put my lips on hers to press her against the limousine with my body.

"Being shot about it," I breathed into her mouth, reluctantly tearing my lips from hers to rest my forehead against hers, taking a deep breath.

"That sure sounds unusual now," she said quietly and put her delicate hands on my warm cheeks to look deep into my eyes at the same time. "But I'm also glad you got shot."

She smiled tormented, but I gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead and then led her back to the door, where she immediately took a seat in the passenger seat.

"Now it's just the two of us against the world," she whispered into the silence and before I closed her door, I crouched down right next to her seat to take her hands in mine.

"Butterfly," I breathed, kissing her hand and then looking at her encouragingly. "No matter what will come. This will not have any consequences for you. He most certainly did not recognize you in the dark and believe me, I would never let anything happen to you."

"And what if he recognized me?"

"Then we'll hide and I'll come up with something. We'll go somewhere nice for now and rest. You need to switch off after all that's happened and I really need to call Hector."

She nodded hesitantly and let her head fall against the back of the seat in exhaustion, which made me get up and close her door to walk around the car to the driver's side.

I didn't waste any more time and immediately started the car to drive her through the night.

The many lights of Alicante passed us while soft music played from the radio and I kept glancing over at her.

She seemed present and just stared out the window, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked and she immediately looked over at me.

"That this evening, despite everything, was probably the best of my life, even if everything that happened after our conversation on the beach was really shit."

I nodded wistfully and took her hand in mine to continue stabilizing the steering wheel with the other.

"The guy... I couldn't-"

"I know," she interrupted, squeezing my hand a little tighter. "You saw red. I can understand it, only one punch might have been enough and we should have run away."

"I should have killed him," I murmured at her words, really having to stop myself from wanting to kill everyone who came near her.

"You're not like that anymore, Emilio," she replied, leaning her head on my shoulder. "You never have to kill anyone again."

I wish she was right...